You Picked Me
by stardustkr7
Summary: Barbara had only really stopped by because both Pennyworths had actually called and insisted she spend Christmas with everyone. There was only one person missing though. And as the hours ticked by after Christmas dinner, she doubted he would show up.


**A/N**: _Written as a Christmas present for my friend. Enjoy!_

* * *

><p>Maybe she shouldn't have bothered coming back to Gotham for Christmas.<p>

Barbara sat curled up on the couch, watching the festivities in the crowded family room at Wayne manor. Stephanie and Harper were in front of the fire, laughing and playing with Alfred the cat. Damian was attempting to eat a slice of pie but Titus kept helping himself to the plate as well ("No, Titus! Down, boy!"). Tim and Bruce and Julia were sitting in armchairs, talking and smiling, a forgotten chess board between them. Alfred (the butler, not the cat) was serving more eggnog to Dick, who was on the other side of the room avoiding her eye.

She knew he was still surly about the incident earlier, when she had turned her head at the last minute so he kissed her cheek under the mistletoe hanging in the entryway. It had been a little awkward.

"Babs …" he had said, looking disappointed.

"Please don't, Dick," she said, determinedly not looking at him. She hadn't spoken to him much since his undercover mission ended and she punched him in the middle of the Batcave about three months ago.

"It's Christmas," he said with a sigh.

"That doesn't change anything," said Barbara. It was just another day; it didn't mean she was going to magically forgive him after all her put her through. "And … I'm getting serious with someone," she added after a moment.

"Oh."

"Yeah."

"Someone … someone you met in Burnside?" Dick asked, feigning politeness.

"I don't really want to talk about it," said Barbara, turning to move past him into the living room.

"Wait, Babs," he said, reaching out for her hand. She looked down at his hand on her wrist and he quickly let go of her. "Is he treating you well?"

_Well he didn't lie to me for over half a year and make me believe he was dead, just for the sake of the mission._

But he was right about one thing. It was Christmas. She didn't want to pick a fight and if he could hold back his jealousy, she could hold back her bitterness.

"He is," she said with a soft smile before walking away to find a seat near the fireplace.

Barbara had only really stopped by because both Pennyworths had actually called and insisted she spend Christmas with everyone. And her father was working late anyway so it wasn't like she had any excuse.

There was only one person missing though. And as the hours ticked by after Christmas dinner, she doubted he would show up. When she had told her boyfriend about it, he had given her an uneasy look and muttered an excuse about having plans. And she hadn't wanted to push.

She sighed, checking her phone again. Maybe she ought to get going. She had promised Alysia she would try to stop by tonight too.

"I hope I'm not too late."

Barbara looked up, eyes wide as she saw who was standing in the doorway of the family room.

"You guys know it's snowing out there? Pretty great, huh," said Jason, looking a little sheepish now that he had the attention of the whole room.

Alfred was the first to recover, jumping up at once to lead him into the rest of the room, saying, "Better late than never, young sir. Please sit and warm up. I'm afraid I've already put away the leftovers but I would be happy to heat up whatever you'd like."

"Jason, I'm glad you came," said Bruce, putting a hand on his shoulder.

"I knew you'd show up if dad and I just bothered you enough," said Julia cheerfully. Alfred took his jacket before hurrying off to the kitchen.

As the others greeted him, Barbara watched, catching his eye at last. He gave her a small smile and eventually made his way over to her. She stood to give him a brief hug.

They still weren't really advertising the relationship at all and after the awkward moment with Dick earlier, she wasn't sure it was the best time to reveal that Jason Todd was the only boy she was accepting kisses under the mistletoe from right now.

"I thought you had plans," Barbara said quietly.

"Postponed. So I figured I'd swing by and get some pie," he said with a shrug.

She looked at him, noting he was even dressed up for the occasion. "I didn't even think you had anything this presentable to wear," she teased, touching his shoulder.

"Are you making fun of my sweater? This is a great sweater. It looks good on me, you have to admit, Barbie," he said, pretending to fix the collar of the white button down layered under soft dark red cashmere.

"Yeah, I guess," she said, rolling her eyes. Okay, maybe she liked her boyfriend nicely cleaned up as much as she liked messy hair and leather jacket Jason too. And that shirt he wore would probably be so nice and cozy for her to wear tomorrow and it would probably smell like him and he would pretend to be annoyed when she stole it but then give her that look…

_Whatever you do, don't kiss him_, she reminded herself.

Things calmed down again and Alfred brought him enough leftovers from dinner to feed three Jasons. Most of the plates ended up picked over by everyone else in the room too. Titus snatched up a large slice of roast and ran off before anyone could catch him, Damian trailing after the dog.

A few more presents were exchanged and a sea of wrapping paper provided a new distraction for the cat. Steph and Harper were now teasing him with lengths of stray ribbon.

Barbara had finished a second mug of nog and a candy cane when she decided to stand and stretch, making her way to the large window by the ten foot tall noble fir in the corner. After a moment of looking out at the softly falling snow, she felt a hand on her shoulder.

"I have something for you," said Jason when she turned around to face him. He handed her a small, wrapped box.

"I didn't get you anything. I wasn't sure you'd be here," said Barbara, biting her lip.

"It's okay, I don't need anything," he said, smiling. "Open it and tell me you like it."

She opened the present, falling silent as she looked at the contents of the box. It was a necklace, a delicate silver chain with a heart shaped pendant attached, sparkling with gems.

She hadn't even realized they were at the expensive jewelry stage of their relationship. They hadn't even told the family and now he was giving her diamond necklaces.

"Barbie?" The hint of nervousness in his voice made her look up.

"Jay…" She had no words. It was a lovely gift, way more than what she would have ever expected from him. And she had a feeling he had picked it out carefully himself, judging by the apprehensive way he waited for her to finally say something about it.

It wasn't just the necklace though. She knew showing up at this family function wouldn't be easy for him and that was why she had only asked once. And that was more to assure him he was invited than to try to convince him to come. She wanted him there, knew that having someone who understood better how she was feeling about her own slightly strained relationship with the rest of the Bat clan would give her the strength to get through the holiday. But she didn't want to be selfish.

Again, Jason seemed to know what she needed and was there for her. And she would love him for it even if he hadn't just given her some very expensive jewelry. Jewelry that she actually did really like, despite being a little taken aback. It was small and simple but sparkled brilliantly, reflecting lights from the tree.

Her mind was telling her the only right way to express how much she liked it was without words. So Barbara grabbed him by the collar and pulled him into a kiss.

He was startled at first but he kissed her back, his hands resting on her waist as hers slid up around his shoulders. They completely forgot where they were for a few glorious moments.

"So you like it?" Jason sighed as she pulled away, smiling.

"Yeah, it's beautiful, thank you," she said.

Then they registered that the rest of the room had gone very silent around them.

They both looked over to find everyone had paused to stare at them in shock. Even Bruce had an eyebrow raised.

The fireplace gave an unusually loud pop.

"Should have done this later," Jason muttered, his arms still around Barbara.

She shook her head. No, it was now or never, no taking it back. If he could take the risk and show up here for her, then she could announce their secret relationship and how happy it made her these past few months. And the shock mingled with horror on Dick's face especially prompted her to speak.

"Jason and I have been seeing each other for a while," she said confidently despite how much her cheeks burned. "Several months, actually. And if anyone has concerns on the matter, I really don't want to hear it."

Silence followed her declaration and now she could even feel Jason giving her a surprised look.

"Pay up, kid. I told you they were already together," said Julia, elbowing Tim.

"What? You didn't even know he was into her until I told you!" Tim complained.

"What the hell, Drake? Who else did you tell?" Jason said, glaring.

"Pfft, as if it wasn't obvious from watching you two for more than five minutes," Harper piped up.

"Yeah, who hasn't seen you two make eyes at each other?" Stephanie agreed, turning back to her tablet.

"Why is it such a big deal?" Damian scoffed. "We hardly ever see the two of them anyway. Why cares?"

"That will do, Master Damian," said Alfred, sweeping past the child over to the two of them. "May I see? Ah yes, a very lovely piece, Master Jason, quite the sparkle. Excellent pick for the lady," he said, examining the necklace and beaming with happiness.

A lot of the tension left the room with Alfred's implicit acceptance of their relationship. Jason's shoulders relaxed and he smiled.

"Well go on, lad, help her put it on," he said, handing back the box.

"Oh, right," said Jason, lifting the chain from the box while Barbara turned around and pulled her hair aside so he could easily fasten the clasp. It was just the right length, falling just above the neckline of her sweater.

"Another drink perhaps?" Alfred offered.

"I think Jason was looking forward to the pie, actually," said Barbara, smiling up at her boyfriend.

"Desserts then."

The room began to relax again as Alfred served warm apple pie with ice cream and caramel sauce. The best part was when Barbara sat down on the couch again and Jason put an arm around her and pulled her close. She didn't care who was looking. This Christmas had gotten about ten times better now that she could spend it cuddled up with her boyfriend, stealing kisses and bites of his dessert.

"Sorry I kind of let everyone know about us without asking if you minded," Barbara said after a while.

"I was only keeping quiet because I thought that's what you wanted," he said. "I've been dying to kiss you as soon as I stepped in the room."

"I know how you feel," she said, pressing her lips to his again.

He smirked at her. "There is one thing you could do for me though."

Barbara raised an eyebrow. He had that look on his face like he was up to something.

"Come with me to go meet up with Kory and Roy for our little Christmas thing? You don't have to tell the others. Just say you need to get going and I'll be the chivalrous boyfriend concerned with getting you home safely," said Jason, looking hopeful.

"You want to just … leave together?" No matter what excuses they offered, that felt even more scandalous than kissing in front of the whole room.

"Yeah, why not?"

Barbara looked around the room at everyone else again. Despite the initial reaction to their relationship, they had mostly left the two of them alone to sit together on the couch, not one person raising an objection. Even Dick had managed to keep his complaints to himself and was now intently listening to Damian's skepticism about the myth of Santa Claus ("children are expected to believe this?" "It's magic, Damian").

"Are you sure they want me tagging along?" she asked.

"Of course, they love you. Kory especially requested I ask you," he said.

"Okay. Let's do it," Barbara decided. "Before Dick has enough to drink that he decides he does have something to say about us."

"Oh, well, I wouldn't mind hearing what he thinks gives him the right," Jason said rolling his eyes.

"Jason."

"You picked me and he can deal with it."

She smiled. "It wasn't a competition. Come on, let's go."

Barbara stood up and led the way over to where Bruce, Julia, and Alfred were gathered. "I promised my old roommate I would see her while I was in town so I'm going to leave before it gets too late," she said.

"And the roads might be bad so I'm going to make sure she gets there safely," Jason said in an amused tone that really didn't convince anyone because of course he didn't care it was obvious they were ditching the family. Out of the corner of her eye, she even saw Harper and Stephanie trade glances. _Oh those girls were so getting a hell of a workout the next time they trained with her…_

"Allow me to pack up a few things for the road," said Alfred, slipping out of the room.

"It was good to see you, Barbara," said Julia, standing to give her a hug. "We miss you here."

"Thanks for inviting me. It was really nice."

As Harper and Stephanie each gave her a hug goodbye, she caught sight of Dick and Damian slipping out of the room. Alfred returned and began piling together a care package in Jason's arms.

Next was Bruce, who she really didn't feel like hugging right now and he didn't initiate. Not telling her about the undercover mission was exactly the type of behavior she expected from him, but it didn't make her any less weary and angry with him too. She felt her shoulders tense up but he only gave her a small smile.

"What? Nothing to say?" said Barbara.

"You said you didn't want to hear it," he said, glancing at the doorway. "He'll come around. He needs time."

"And he's welcome to plenty of it."

"You're good for Jason. A good influence on him," said Bruce, surprising her even more. She didn't know what to say to that. Sometimes it felt like Jason was a better influence on her, always encouraging her to express how she felt, validating her emotions.

"Uh, Barbie, you wanna get going now?" Jason interrupted. His arms were weighted down with containers.

"Yeah," she said, leading him out, escaping the family at last.

As they headed towards the front door, he said quietly, "Next year, I vote we skip the family thing and just go to the beach for the holidays."

"We'll see."


End file.
